4.2 Aquatic Communities
hydrodynamics, potentially upset the physical, chemical, and biological structure of streams. Tropical events may also exacerbate problems associated with saltwater intrusion (Band and Salvesen 2009) . Sea level rise is likely to impact stream swamp communities, as the combined increase of inland fooding due to higher precipitation events coupled with elevated sea levels will exacerbate coastal inundation. Additionally, saltwater intrusion into freshwater streams is a possibility as sea level rises. Te chemical composition of freshwater systems could change and freshwater wetlands and swamps could be converted to salt marshes (Band and Salvesen 2009; Holman et al. 2010; Bakke 2008; Burkett et al. 2000) . 4.2.11.4 Climate Change Compared to Other Threats Comparing climate change to other ecosystem threats can help defne short- and long-term conservation actions and recommendations. While climate change is not the most severe threat to stream swamp communities, a combination of synergistic efects with develop- ment and lack of riparian corridors could stress these systems to the point where several species are unable to persist. Many of the threats that afect other stream communities discussed in this Chapter will also impact stream swamp systems and the comments pro- vided should be considered valid for this aquatic community. Table 4.12 provides a review of expected climate change impacts in order of importance in comparison with other types of threats. 4.2.11.5 Impacts to Wildlife Appendix G includes a list of SGCN and other priority species for which there are knowl- edge gap and management concern priorities. Appendix H identifes SGCN that use stream swamp systems. Rapid changes in water temperature will have direct impacts on the physiology and meta- bolic rates of freshwater biota (Allan et al. 2005) , which are dominated by cold-blooded organ- isms with no physiological ability to regulate their body temperature. Aquatic species are particularly sensitive to temperature cues and recent research has shown that many species of freshwater mussels may already be living at the upper thermal tolerances of their early life stages (glochidia and juveniles) (Pandolfo et al. 2010) . Eaton et al. (1995) reported maximum temperature tolerance estimates for 30 species of freshwater fshes occurring in the United States. Temperature tolerance ranges are species-specifc, and the availability of cooler waters may become limiting to some species in their current range in a warmer climate.
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